The Sun's Hidden Power, Atmosphere on a Nearby Planet, and Starship's Five-Act Drama

About this episode

Anna and Avery discuss significant space news including solar storm research, the discovery of an atmosphere on a rocky planet, and updates on Starship's flight.

Astronomy Daily — The Weekend Space and Astronomy News Wrap | Saturday 18 July 2026 | S05E144 Anna and Avery wrap the biggest week in space news this year: brand-new research warning that extreme solar storms may hit harder than our models assume, and the delightful news that South African rooibos tea seeds are headed for the International Space Station — plus the four stories that defined the week, from the first atmosphere ever found on a rocky habitable-zone world to Starship's dramatic T-0 abort and Monday's retry. Story Sources • Solar storms underestimated — Nature (DOI: 10.1038/s41586-026-10757-4); phys.org; Space.com • Rooibos in Space — South African Rooibos Council / MaxIQ Space / SANSA announcement; phys.org; News24 • LHS 1140 b atmosphere — Science; Space.com (as covered S05E143) • Starship Flight 13 — SpaceX / Space.com launch coverage (arc across S05E139–E143; retry NET 20 July) • Omega Centauri black hole — Hubble/JWST astrometry study (as covered S05E141) • Pluto landslides & Charon tectonics — New Horizons imagery studies (as covered S05E142) Visit astronomydaily.io for our full archive. Follow @AstroDailyPod. Astronomy Daily is part of the Bitesz.com Podcast…

People in this episode

Hosts: Anna, Avery

Topics covered

• solar storms
• space news
• atmosphere discovery
• Starship
• rooiobos tea in space
• black holes
• Pluto

Keywords

• solar storms
• atmosphere
• Starship
• rooiobos tea
• black hole
• Pluto
• space news

Sponsors

NordVPN

Mentioned in this episode

Organizations: International Space Station, South African Rooibos Council, MaxIQ Space, SANSA, SpaceX, Hubble, JWST

Books & works: Nature, Science, New Horizons, Space.com, phys.org, News24

Places: South Africa

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